Genesis Siege
by gsiege
Summary: This is a story which is not about Charmed. It is about the life of two other people, but the Charmed Ones appear from time to time, so I put it as under 'Charmed'.
1. The Charm Beneath

**Chapter 1: The Charm Beneath**

Thunder boomed and a restful silence followed as the woman and her boyfriend hiked in the forest.

"It's raining, we will have to get home soon." The woman said.

"No matter." Her boyfriend said. "Your power of hydrokinesis is strong enough to keep us from getting wet." He began to kiss the woman.

"No, John." The woman said, breaking away from the kiss.

"I see it in you. There is something you are not telling me. What is it?" She asked, as tears streamed out of her eyes.

"I don't know… I'm so sorry, Alice…" John said. "I love you." He said, throwing a ball of energy at her and causing her to scream as she burned in flames.

"At least… Now I have the power already. The circle will be complete." John said, disappearing.

(END TEASER)

**ACT 1**

Bernice looked at the garden from the window. The grass was rich green and the sunlight was reflected by the little dew drops on the blades of grass. The garden was beautiful and well kept. There were many flowers of different colours as well as several trees and bushes as well. It seemed like a rainbow had descended upon the garden. She smiled and sensed something coming at her and shocked, she turned and saw a ball of pseudo energy charging at her. The air in front of her looked fuzzy, smelt fuzzy and it was fuzzy. With a resounding cry by Bernice, the invisible wall moved outwards, deflecting the pseudo energy and pushing it back towards her mother.

"Mom, stop trying to test me." Bernice complained in a whiny voice as the ball of pseudo energy dissipated.

"You are going to the Academy in two hours' time, Bernice and you will have to take the test." Her mother said matter-of-factly. Whatever it is, I'm glad that your skills seemed to have improved."

"What skill_s_, Mom?" Bernice asked. "I only have one skill, unlike you, who have like, seven hundred of them."

"Bernice, I only have a few powers and it took me years to learn them. I am not exceptionally gifted. You are blessed with such a strong power whereas I was born only with the power to throw balls of fake energy to intimidate the enemy. It was only when my mother died that I discovered how important active skills were. That was why I worked so hard, calculating the laws of Physics and practicing, to only master the skill of levitation, and even after thirty years, I can only levitate half a metre." Her mother said.

"What about the others? What about throwing balls of real energy? What about the ability to walk through walls at will? What about the power to create a shield?" Bernice asked.

"Each of these powers took me a long time to learn." Her mother said. "Which is why your father…"

"Alright, Mom. I have to go to the Academy now." Bernice stopped her and left the house.

Bernice reached the Academy and could see many people around as well. Everyone wanted to join the Academy. It was a prestigious school, the best school in the whole of Adminia. The government lived there, and the teachers were specially selected by them. This school admitted students from the age of twelve to fourteen. The teachers all had to be ex-students of the school with excellent grades. Since this school was very popular, students had to go through selection tests before they could enter. Bernice looked at the façade of the Academy. It certainly looked like a technology hub, a school she would want to enter. Bernice checked the signboard and saw that her examination was in ten minutes' time.

Bernice entered the examination room. There were many boys and girls alike, wanting to join the Academy. Twenty of them were seated in a circle and an instructor was standing in the middle.

"Show us your powers." The instructor ordered. "Al, Diana."

A girl with blond hair walked up to the center of the circle and announced "I have the power of Aciesvisum, that means I can see what is happening at another place." She closed her eyes and said "In the top level of the Academy, there are seven ministers holding a meeting. Two of them are blond and the rest have black hair. They seem to be arguing." She walked back to her place in the circle.

"Al, Theresa."

A girl who looked exactly the same as the one before went up and said. "I have the power of Audiusvisum, which means that I can hear what is happening somewhere else. At the top level of the Academy, the seven ministers are shouting to each other about having no powers for today, the Headmaster is…"

"That will be enough, Theresa. Next, Beckman, Thomas."

A thin young boy walked up to his place and said "I have the power of Aeriuaxis. That means I can levitate." He jumped up into the air and floated there.

"Beatty, Eric."

A boy wearing black said "I have the power of Fugamovi." Two violet beams surrounded Eric's body and he disappeared into thin air, but the violet beams still lingered in the air. Suddenly, as though to surprise the instructor, the beams of light thrashed through the instructor and he materialized again in a mid-somersault.

"Cicero, Bernice."

It was finally Bernice's turn. Bernice walked up to the middle of the circle. She stammered nervously "I have the power of Adoripactum. That means I can create a wall of wind that pushes back things." The stern instructor gathered a ball of energy in his hand and threw it at Bernice. It was a real ball of energy. Bernice was shocked for a moment and hurriedly created the barrier. Without any noise from her, the barrier dived towards the instructor and the ball of energy was deflected.

"Ah, you must be Madame Cicero's daughter. You certainly have strong powers. Alright, that will be all for today. Out of the twenty of you, four have been selected. They are Liew, with a power ranking of 3.6, Beatty, with a power ranking of 3.56, Thomas, with a power ranking of 3.5 and Cicero with a power ranking of 3.43." Bernice jumped in joy, she had been selected. The twins and the other people left the room, disappointed.

**ACT 2**

Bernice followed the stern instructor to a grand hall where the windows were all closed. Many students were already seated. The headmaster of the Academy began his speech as soon as they entered.

"My dear students, I know you must be terribly excited to have entered the Academy, but lets' not be so noisy." The headmaster, who was pompous and tall, said loudly. "Let me set a few ground rules. You are not allowed to use your powers in the Academy, except in specified areas. Anyone caught using their powers will be expelled. Secondly, you must always treat your teachers with respect. Thirdly, you must study hard and play hard. The high technology of Adminia is all due to our hard work. Without working hard and working smart, how can we defend this continent from the constant invasions of Senia and Junia? Adminia is only a quarter of the size of Senia and Junia combined. Remember, students, you must work hard, and some day, conquer Senia and Junia."

The headmaster walked off the stage, and, as he did, a ball of fire came charging at him. It was immediately destroyed by a teacher who was tall and had flowing blonde hair. "Who's that?" The teacher asked. "You are not allowed to use powers within the vicinity of the school, and all your powers have been negated."

"It's me." A short and bald man greeted. He blinked and everyone was immobilized. With that, he dived into the floor and appeared beside the headmaster. He dived back into the floor together with the headmaster at breakneck speed. When everyone could move again, he had already been long gone.

"This is an emergency! The headmaster has been kidnapped." The same female teacher adjusted her spectacles and shouted. The students panicked and everyone ran in all directions. Bernice sent a wall charging towards the window. It barely affected the students, the wall was far too weak, but it opened the window. It was true. The magical barrier had been breached.

Bernice ran out of the hall, and as she was running, she tripped and fell. Everyone continued running and some people stepped on her. "Help!" She shouted.

"What are you doing?" A boy asked. Bernice recognized him as Eric Beatty, who had the power of _Fugamovi_.

He kneeled down and held her hands. Two violet beams surrounded them and they teleported back out of the school.

"This is weird." Eric remarked. "I've never been able to teleport such far distances before."

Three fireballs flew toward Bernice and she saw that a monster was throwing them. She looked at the monster, shocked. The barrier in front of her automatically appeared and deflected the fireballs. The monster exploded on contact with the fireballs.

"What was that?" Bernice asked.

"I don't know either." Eric said.

"I think my mother would know. Can you bring me back home?" Bernice said.

"I don't know where your home is." Eric said.

"Don't worry. I do." Bernice said.

Two violet beams surrounded them and they disappeared inside the beams.

They reappeared back at Bernice's house.

"Mom!" Bernice shouted as she opened the door.

"What is it?" Her mother asked.

"The headmaster has been kidnapped and I met a monster. With the help of Eric, I almost defeated it. What is it all about? Why are there monsters? Explain it to me!" Bernice pleaded.

"Alright." Her mother said as the three of them sat down on the sofa. "You have always thought that there were only three continents in this world – Senia, Junia and Adminia. However, actually, there is a fourth continent – Monsteria – which is hidden beneath the surface of the world."

"Monsteria?" Eric asked.

"Yes. It is the secret continent, which hides monsters with extraordinary powers. These monsters were all accidentally created by the Senia and Junia government when they did an experiment – You know how clumsy they are. Since then, the monsters have been continually dividing. In fact, they are growing at an extraordinary rate. The continent itself was created with the dead bodies of monsters. Currently, scientists calculate that there are at least 200 billion monsters." Bernice's mother said.

Bernice was shocked. "200 billion? Our world only has a population of 40 million people, and that's including the _Siege _(people who live in Junia and Senia)"

"You don't have to worry, Bernice. Out of these 200 billion monsters, 100 billion are monster servants with minimal powers. Only a few thousand are capable of killing a human being. However, the monster king, the one with the most powers, is capable of killing twenty human beings by just waving his hand.

"Why hasn't he killed everyone yet then?" Eric asked, skeptical.

"Killing human beings is of no benefit to him. He requires the sorrow of human beings to survive. He feeds on the sorrow, slowly devouring the soul of a human being."

"But the headmaster got kidnapped. What are we to do?" Bernice asked.

"He got kidnapped? We must save him. He is my friend." Bernice's mother said. "He has very strong powers and serves Adminia well, which is why we must help him out from the monster's lair as soon as possible."

"Another thing, mum… My powers were magnified by two times when Eric held my hand. Why is that so?" Bernice asked.

"I think both of you might share a magical bond. Your powers combine with each other and can hence amplify when you combine forces. There are many different combinations to discover." Bernice's mother walked over to the computer and searched the Internet. "So far, there have only been two incidences of both your powers combining together. In the first incidence, your powers from two different beings combined to form astral projection. In the second incidents, ah… one of the Harmed ones… the two powers combined within one being to form telekinetic teleportation."

"Wait… telekinetic teleportation sounds interesting. How does it work?" Bernice asked.

"It's like this." Bernice's mother explained. "You think of a certain object or shout its name. It will immediately come charging at you in the form of the teleportation device using any route you desire. At stronger stages, it just appears in your hands directly. Both of you can try." She said, putting an apple on the table.

Both of them held hands and shouted "Apple!" A mixture of yellow and purple beams surrounded the apple. The apple appeared to turn into a mass of purple spirals which moved slightly, then combined back to form the apple.

"I totally have no energy left." Bernice complained.

"We will surely fail at this rate." Eric moaned.

"Maybe you haven't heard of the magical condition - _Coup de pied_, also known as 'kick'." Bernice's mother said.

"I seem to have heard of it before. When something is teleporting in, a person can run into the teleporting device and hence cause it not to exist on the plane of reality." Eric said.

"You are close, but the thing that is teleporting in can only be a lower level monster or an inanimate object." Bernice's mother said.

"I think I got the idea." Bernice said, holding hands with Eric again. "APPLE!" They shouted. The apple turned into a mixture of yellow and purple spirals, and Bernice's mother placed her fist at where the apple was. The apple formed back, then disappeared with a resounding explosion.

"Now we know how to defeat the monster." Bernice said. "But where is the monster?"

"That can be found out rather easily." Eric said. He took an atlas and placed a crystal in the middle of the map. "Monster." Eric instructed. The crystal moved to a position in the sea.

"I can't teleport that far." Eric complained. "We will have to teleport thrice in order to reach the space."

"A spell will just do the trick." Bernice's mother said.

"We can't do spells yet." Bernice said. "And another thing. Can you shield us with your power so we don't get immobilized again?"

Bernice's mother waved her hand and a blue bubble appeared around Bernice and Eric.

"So how do we get there now?" Eric asked. "We are not qualified to recite spells yet."

"Can't you just go with us?" Bernice asked.

"I'll be protecting you from home." Bernice's mother said before reciting a spell.

"There was once a god named Atlas,

He held up the world with strength,

But one day, alas,

These two people need to go somewhere."

Two of them disappeared in a whirlwind of spiraling light.

"At last." Bernice's mother said. "I wonder how long I can keep this secret from them…"

She spread her palm wide open and a cave appeared in a holograph hovering slightly above the palm.

Bernice and Eric reappeared in a cave, and saw the creature threatening the headmaster.

**ACT 3**

"Tell me the spell…" The creature threatened.

"Headmaster!" Eric shouted.

The creature turned back. "Who are you?" It asked.

"We have come here to save our headmaster. Let him go and we'll let you go." Bernice threatened.

"Bargaining with me?" The creature asked. He threw a fireball at Bernice. A wall around Bernice appeared and moved to deflect the fireball at the creature.

"Nothing but a mere scratch." The creature smiled as the fireball hit him. It waved its hand, causing a strong pulse to ripple through the cave.

Eric held Bernice's hand and teleported behind the monster.

"MONSTER!" Both of them shouted as they reappeared.

The monster was turned into purple and blue spirals. The spirals rotated around each other. Eric walked up to the position of the monster as it started to reappear. Immediately, a strong pulse radiated throughout the cave.

Water started to burst in from all the openings in the cave.

"We have to go now!" Bernice exclaimed.

Eric held Bernice and the headmaster's hands and they disappeared and reappeared inside the Academy.

"Come into my office." The headmaster whispered. They hurriedly ran into the office. Suddenly, the ground trembled. What was happening? The short man-monster appeared from the ground again. "You haven't killed me. That was just my astral projection."

"What? Again?" Bernice asked. A shield formed in front of her automatically.

"That is of no use. I now know of the trick that you use to kill monsters like me. I shall kill you with my strong powers." The monster said boastfully. The monster waved its hands. Immediately, the headmaster was immobilized. The blue shield around Bernice and Eric glowed and deflected the immobilization. The monster was now immobilized.

Eric picked up an old knife with many gold carvings on it from the headmaster's table in one hand. He teleported in in front of the monster.

Eric was about to stab the monster with the knife when suddenly it disappeared from his hand. He turned back and saw that the headmaster was holding it. "That is not necessary." He said in a stern voice.

The headmaster waved his hands. Immediately, Bernice and Eric were pushed to one side of the room. He waved his hands again. The monster got flung to the wall. Then, three balls of fire appeared in his hands and flew towards the monster, who at once also threw out three balls of fire. Bernice raised her hands. Suddenly, the air around the monster turned fuzzy and the balls rebounded at the monster. It shrieked and disappeared into thin air after the explosion.

"Thank you." The headmaster said. "Thank you so much for saving me. My powers were made inactive today – sealed by the monster, I presume. What are your names?"

"I am Bernice Cicero." Bernice said. "This boy beside me, he is Eric Beatty."

"Good. Well done." The headmaster said.

**Ending**

Cave

"They have failed… but we shall still reign." The man in sunglasses laughed maniacally.


	2. Son of The Mask

**Chapter 2: Son of The Mask**

"In this magical world, or continent, rather, there are all sorts of artifacts. These artifacts include masks, books, or even stationery." The male teacher wrote the word "stationary" on the board. "Oops, did I spell it correctly?" He asked the class.

"That's not supposed to be an _a_." a student cried out. "It's an _e_."

"OK." The teacher said, changing the word to "stetionary."

"Is that correct now?" He asked.

"No." The class said.

"Whatever, as long as you know how to spell it, it's fine with me." He said, continuing with his lesson. "What we are going to focus on today are masks. Masks have always been regarded as a traditional store of power. When one wears a mask, the power of a certain being captured in the mask is transferred to him and the being is expelled from the mask. This can bring great danger to the world…"

(focus on Eric snoring.)

(END TEASER)

**ACT 1**

Cave

"Greedius?" The man wearing sunglasses flipped through a book and looked at a page.

"Greedius is the King of Greed." A man reported.

"Lets' try him out then." The woman said.

"Alright." Their leader nodded.

"Wow, what a beautiful attic!" Eric commented as he entered the attic in Bernice's house.

"There are a lot of secret objects in this attic." Bernice said. "Once, I found a book that had a lot of spells in it, but my mother took it away and kept it."

"Really?" Eric asked. "Where is it?"

"I just told you my mother kept it somewhere which I do not know." Bernice said.

"Lets' try looking for it." Eric said, moving out a few boxes from the corner of the attic.

He opened a box and took a piece of paper out. "What's this?" He asked.

"Oh." Bernice said. "I think it's a potion recipe."

Eric took out a knife with golden carvings on it. "What's this?"

"I'm not sure, but put it back in." Bernice said. "It's very expensive."

"Oh, what's this?" Eric said excitedly as he took out an ancient wooden mask with many shapes on it. He put it on. "Do I look scary?" He asked.

"No, you don't." Bernice said. "Please put it back in! Don't you remember what Mr. Milster told us today? These can be dangerous!"

"No. I love this too much." Eric said. He took off the mask, but held it in his hands. He felt the power of the mask surge through him, and in a gigantic flash of light, he disappeared together with the mask.

"Eric? Where are you?" Bernice asked. No one answered.

She walked to the map with a crystal on it and ordered. "Eric." The crystal moved up and down, all over the map.

"What am I to do?" Bernice wondered.

Suddenly, a monster burst in through the window and it shattered.

"What is it? Who are you?" Bernice asked.

"I am Greedius. Where is it?" The monster said, flinging his hands. Bernice raised her hands and created a shield. Nothing happened.

"What?" The monster grumbled. "Nothing happened?" It flung its hands again. This time, Bernice was flung out of the window. She was falling down and her mother, who was just walking into the house, saw it. Her mother stared at her. Immediately, her body seemed to be falling down at a much slower rate. Then, Bernice's mother jumped up three stories in the air and caught Bernice in her arms.

"What happened?" Bernice's mother asked. They were in the living room. Bernice had been unconscious for the past three hours. There was no trace of the monster at all.

"I don't know." Bernice said. "Eric took out this mask from a box in our attic and he suddenly disappeared. When I checked his position on the crystal map, the crystal just moved about all over the place. Then, the monster suddenly jumped in from the window and flung me out of the other window."

"Was the mask red?" Bernice's mother (who will now be referred to as Betty) asked.

"I think so. Why do you ask?" Bernice asked.

"I seem to remember that that was the Greed Mask." Betty said. "It causes everyone who wears it to absorb the powers of the Greed Monster, also known as Greedius. However, in doing so, he will turn greedy and there is an enormous chance of him taking over the entire world with the combined powers of Greedius and a magical being. Greedius is very powerful, he has more than the combined powers of three million people. However, once his power is absorbed, he will turn weaker and weaker until he effectively merges into one entity with the person who absorbed his power. When that happens, the person will be evil and indestructible, and it will happen within 24 hours of absorbing the power of Greedius."

"What are we to do? We only have 20 hours left, and there's school tomorrow. We must defeat it and save Eric before midnight." Bernice exclaimed nervously.

Betty said "I think we will have to defeat Greedius first. She walked up to the attic with Bernice and went to the map. "Greedius." Betty said.

"I tried it just now and it didn't work." Bernice said.

"You tried it with Eric, didn't you? Since Eric stole Greedius' power, Greedius will want to get his power back from Eric. However, Eric has the power of _Fugamovi_, which Greedius lacks." Betty said. "Hence, Greedius will have to keep running about the place, chasing Eric."

"So that was why Greedius came in through the window." Betty said.

"Yes." Betty said, looking at the map. "I see that the crystal has pinpointed the exact location of Greedius. Lets' go." She said, holding Bernice's hand and disappearing. A breeze was blowing out of the window. The curtains fell back into position after the breeze stopped.

**ACT 2**

A tornado gathered at the sidewalk and Bernice and Betty appeared.

Everyone stopped and looked at them. "What are you doing here?" They asked.

"Oh no, who are these people? Do they not know magic?" Bernice asked.

"I think we are in Junia." Betty said.

"What? Oh my, this is disgusting." Bernice opened her eyes in horror. They saw Greedius running off in the distance. Betty stared at Greedius. Suddenly, everything around her slowed down except Bernice and herself.

"Lets' chase him." Betty ordered. Betty held Bernice's hand and suddenly they zoomed in a flurry and reached Greedius, who was still running at an exceptionally slow speed as he was being slowed down.

Betty said "I can vaguely remember the spell used to suppress this monster."

She chanted. "Magical forces far and near,

Suppress Greedius' powers now with fear."

The slowing down effect weakened and gradually everyone was moving at normal speed again.

"Hey, Greedius!" Bernice said cheerfully, tapping on its scaly shoulder.

"What?" Greedius turned back and it flung its hands, to no effect. "What happened?" It picked up a pebble from the ground and threw it at Bernice. The air around Bernice turned fuzzy and moved out towards Greedius. When the pebble touched the fuzzy air, it immediately flew back at Greedius.

"Ow!" Greedius cried out as the pebble hit it with great force.

Betty jumped in the air and Greedius was immediately encased in a layer of solid ice, frozen by Betty. She jumped back down and kicked the layer of solid ice causing Greedius to break into many small fragments.

"Yes!" Bernice said happily.

"You witches." Suddenly a great force threw them through a wall, but Betty and Bernice hurriedly turned into a hurricane and were not injured.

"What is it? Who is it?" Bernice asked. A shadow loomed over the sky and Bernice looked up. She saw Eric. He was enormous. "Hi, Eric. You are a few feet taller than usual." Bernice greeted. Eric waved his hands again and Betty waved her hands at the same time. Eric was flung far back. He fell onto the floor, causing a lot of destruction.

Hurriedly, Betty whipped up a spell.

"Mask of Greed,

Mask of Gold,

What's not yours will never hold."

Immediately, Eric groaned in pain and many purple spirals surrounded him. The purple spirals gradually dissipated. Eric had fainted and he was back to his original size. Betty held Bernice's hand and teleported over to Eric. Then she also held Eric's hand and teleported back home.

The people in Junia were left shocked at what had happened.

**ACT 3**

Eric woke up on the sofa. "What happened?" He asked groggily.

Bernice, who was sitting right next to him, said "You just turned into a gigantic evil monster and fainted."

"I know. I will never be so nosy again." Eric said.

"You won't have any more chances to wear this mask of Greed anymore." Betty said as she raised her hands and exploded the mask on the table.

"Although I must say, it was quite fun." Bernice laughed.

"It wasn't." Betty said. "One of the things I am most concerned about is that I never had that mask."

"What?" Eric asked.

"Does that mean that someone is trying to harm us?" Bernice asked.

"I think so." Betty said.

"I bet it's a big demon." Bernice said.

"If there's nothing, then I'll be going home." Eric said, walking towards the open door.

"No, you are not going anywhere." Bernice snapped, staring at the door. A wave of air moved toward the door and closed it.

"Don't you realise I can just teleport?" Eric asked.

"Sure, see…" Bernice said. Suddenly, a look of worry creased her face.

"What?" Betty asked.

"Nothing, no, I just felt a chill…" Bernice said.

"Memorising lines from _All Hell Breaks Loose_?" Eric asked. "The next word is _hoebe_."

"No." Bernice whispered as suddenly, their door burst open and a tornado flew into the house, revealing a demon.

"Hax?" Eric wondered out loud. "Are we gonna die so soon?"

"I know. Hax is the demon that wants to kill all of us." Betty said as Hax walked closer towards the three of them.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Bernice asked.

"The end." Hax said.

"He's saying the exact same thing as he did to the Harmed Ones." Betty said.

"Oh, he wants the end?" Eric wondered out loud. "Alright, I'll let you have it."

"Evil wind that blows,

From that which comes below,

No longer will you dwell,

May death take you with this spell." He chanted, but nothing happened.

"Stop copying." Betty said.

Hax threw a ball of energy at Bernice but she dodged it.

"I'm not as stupid as Hru and Hyper." She laughed.

Hax threw another ball of energy at Bernice, but a wall of wind gathered around Bernice and pushed the ball of energy back at Hax, causing him to turn back into wind and fly out of the house, closing the doors in the process.

"Thank you for closing the doors after you leave." Bernice said. "Now could you remind me again, what would be the reason for him wanting to kill me and only me?"

"Perhaps I know the reason." Eric said. "The thing that both of you have in common is that you have the same power. Maybe someone… or something wants this certain power, and he wants to get it from you so that he will not lose his power and he can just present your power to his boss."

"Evil theory, but it sounds true." Bernice said.

"So what do we do?" Eric wondered.

"I think the only way out is…" Betty said.

"What?" Bernice asked.

"I felt another chill." Betty said.

Hax rushed into the house again. Betty waved her hands and the flow of wind slowed down.

"Hurry up." Betty said. "Think of a strategy."

"I don't know. I suppose we could have made him wear the Mask of Greed, but you just exploded it." Bernice said.

"Explosion." Eric said.

The flow of wind speeded up again, pushing everyone. Hax appeared again, slamming the door open.

Hax threw a ball of energy at Bernice but Bernice stared at the ball of energy. It reflected back at Hax and he groaned in pain as it hit him. Betty waved her hands, exploding Hax. Hax groaned as he was vanquished.

"It was that easy?" Eric wondered.

"Yes it was." Betty said.

(**Ending**)

"What? He failed?" The man said sternly. "Now we only have one source of power left. That is Cicero… Bernice."


	3. XMen

**Chapter 3: X-Men**

**TEASER**

The bell rang and the students streamed out of the classroom happily.

"It's finally Monday. I love Mondays." Eric said.

"Who doesn't?" Bernice asked sarcastically. "I'll just be wasting three hours waiting for my club to start."

"What's your club?" Eric asked.

"Alchemy Club." Bernice said.

"Oh." Eric smiled. "Bye then." He walked out of the school.

"I'll be so bored." Bernice said.

Someone asked her from behind. "And why would you be?"

"Who are you?" Bernice turned back and saw a guy with blond hair.

"My name's Morgan." The guy said. "I'm the chairman of the Alchemy Club."

"Oh. Hi. My name is Bernice." Bernice said.

**ACT 1**

The students streamed out of the classroom. It was already late in the evening.

"Bernice, where do you stay?" Morgan asked.

"Near the North Gate. Why?"

"I stay there too." Morgan said. "Lets' go home together."

Bernice hesitated for a while, thinking what motive Morgan had. She then decided that making friends was a good thing, especially since they were in the same club. "Alright then." She replied.

Bernice and Morgan walked home along the dark street. It was dimly lit.

"Bernice, do you find your teachers interesting?" Morgan asked.

"Kind of. They have such interesting names too, like Ms. Nee Acuity." Bernice.

"But she's quite nice, isn't she?" Morgan asked fiercely.

"Ye…" Bernice stopped. "Why the change in voice?" She turned around and saw that the irises of Morgan's eyes were gradually turning white. His head was changing to the shape of a cat and a metallic layer was slowly covering his body.

"Help!" Bernice shouted. She ran in the opposite direction.

"It will be of no use." Morgan snarled. He leaped forward at Bernice as his fingers turned into long white claws.

"Oh no!" She screamed. A fuzzy layer of air appeared in front of her and pushed back Morgan who was still leaping. He fell onto the floor.

"Someone help me!" Bernice cried out. She ran while looking back at Morgan. Morgan threw his claws at her. The layer of air behind her turned fuzzy and deflected all the claws. Suddenly, she bumped into someone. "Help me!" She screamed as she turned around to look at who she bumped into.

"Alright. I will end your suffering." The person said coldly.

"What?" Bernice asked. The person or thing, rather was a dog standing upright. It also had claws for hands.

"What's happening now?" Bernice screamed. Suddenly, the two animals slowed down to a halt. She did not know what was happening but she ran away quickly.

Under the dim lamppost, a shadow could be seen. The voice seemed to belong to a cold-blooded assassin. "Cannis and Chattus, you wish to claim credit for yourself? Not so fast!" The person said ruthlessly.

Bernice hurriedly unlocked the door of her home and entered.

"Mom, help!" Bernice cried out.

"What is it?" Her mom asked from the living room. Bernice ran in and saw her mother with cucumber slices over her eyes, and with a mask over her face.

"Monsters are chasing me, and all you can think of is doing a facial?" Bernice asked incredulously.

"What monsters? I'm tired." Betty asked.

"There were two of them. One of them was like a cat, the other one looked like a dog." Bernice said anxiously.

"You mean… you met Cannis and Chattus?" Betty asked.

"What are you talking about?" Bernice asked. Just then, she heard the door being slammed wide open.

"Oh my god." Betty said. Just then, the dog leaped onto her.

"Mom!" Bernice cried. Suddenly the dog was flung right off her mother.

Betty held Bernice's hands as they whirled into a huge tornado that moved towards Cannis and Chattus, pushing both of them onto the floor. The tornado gradually changed into a breeze.

A mass of withered leaves swirled around each other in the attic. The swirling suddenly became more violent until a tornado was formed. Betty and Bernice appeared.

"Mom, why did you bring me here?" Bernice asked.

"I didn't want to reveal this to you, but there is actually a book of spells in our attic." Betty said.

"So we can use a spell to defeat a monster, like the legendary Harmed Ones?" Bernice asked.

"No. The Harmed Ones have spells to defeat specific monsters, and we don't know how they got these spells, since there is only one of each monster and it would be of no use to write down the spell to defeat it since you only have to use the spell once. The spells in our book are general spells." Betty raised her right hand out, palm up, and a book flew from nowhere onto her hand. She flipped the cover open. "Look, this is the incantation to create a shield."

(Cannis and Chattus)

**ACT 2**

"I sense them." Cannis said.

"With your dog's nose, of course you can sense them." Chattus insulted.

"How dare you!" Cannis growled and pouncing on Chattus.

"It's true, you are a dog." Chattus said, dodging him.

"Oh yeah, you are right. They are in the attic." Cannis said.

Both of them ran up the stairs.

(Betty and Bernice)

"With the blessing of Heaven's power,

I protect myself from a monster's glower,

The monsters will have it sweet, salty and sour,

This shield is as strong as a tower." Betty and Bernice read out at the same time. A red glow moved through their bodies as the shield took effect.

"Found you!" Chattus said as he leaped onto the attic. "And no, you are not going to use the same trick on us."

Betty and Bernice smiled, as they turned into a tornado once again, disappearing together with the book.

"Or maybe you are going to use the same trick." Chattus cried out.

Bernice and Betty appeared outside the house again.

"Did I ever mention to you that a witch's house is the epitome of all magic?" Betty asked. "Once you trap a monster inside your house, you can run out of the house and kill the monster with a simple spell."

Cannis and Chattus were walking about in the attic.

"I wonder where they are now." Cannis asked.

"Maybe they are…" Chattus wanted to say something, but then he stopped.

"Where is it?" Cannis asked.

"I just remembered something." Chattus said. "A witch's house is the epitome of all magic. If we stay in it, and they decide to recite the spell of a monster's death, then we'll be dead."

"Easy. Just jump through this glass window." Cannis said, pointing to the window that Greedius had thrown Bernice out of."

"But we lose our powers with glass." Chattus cried out. Both of them started running down the stairs.

Betty flipped the book open to a page. The top of the page read "Spell of a Monster's Death."

"A thousand powers near and far,

Concentrate on this house from afar.

The monsters' powers this house will mar,

The monsters' powers this house will bar."

Cannis and Chattus were running through the living room when suddenly, a ring of fire surrounded them. They cried out as the floor they were standing on was raised and they were crushed under the floor.

**ACT 3**

Betty and Bernice smiled, reentering the house.

"Why did the monsters want to kill me, mom?" Bernice asked.

"I'm not sure either." Betty said. "but I know that these monsters are part of the faction called the X-Men, which contains 13 strong monsters. To my knowledge, these are the 2 weakest monsters within the faction."

"Let me have a look at that book." Bernice said, snatching the thick leather-bound book from Betty's hands.

"Alright." Betty said, walking toward her room.

"Ooh, what's this spell?" Bernice wondered out loud, reading.

"Solely me,

Only me,

I love Money,

Let the richness affect me." She said. Money began tumbling down from the ceiling and falling all over the house.

"OK… that is enough. I'm rich enough." She said as the money continued tumbling down to waist level. She noticed that the money didn't stop tumbling down. "Mom!" She cried out.

"Coming…" Betty said, walking out of her room and money flooded her room as she opened the door.

"What happened?" Betty asked.

"I read the spell for money." Bernice said.

"Honey, that is a spell that is forbidden." Betty said.

"Why is it in here then?" Bernice asked as a shower of coins hit her heads.

"Lets' undo what has been done,

To end what has begun." Betty chanted. The money flew back up into the ceiling and disappeared.

Betty explained. "This spell was added here by one of the vilest ancestors ever, Babette Cicero."

"She sounds familiar." Bernice said.

"Yes, she is famous, but she was evil. She was a killer." Betty said.

"Why?" Bernice asked.

"You're asking me that? Are you blonde?" Betty asked.

"Well… When was she born anyway?" Bernice asked.

"She was born in 1825." Betty said

"Oh my, that was, like, 300 years ago." Bernice opened her mouth in horror.

"I know. I have to let you know why we cannot use our magic for personal gain. I have to take you to see her." Betty said calmly.

"Are you mad?" Bernice asked. "We might… we might be killed."

The doorbell rang.

"Come in." Bernice said, using her power to open the door.

"Hi." Eric said.

"Why, Eric. I just had a stressful day." She said.

"Of course. Monday is such an awful way to waste one seventh of your life." Eric said, walking into the house. "I…"

Bernice stopped him. "The facts, though interesting, are irrelevant." She said. "Now, mom wants me to go to the past to see one of my idiotic evil ancestors."

"When did I say I wanted you to go to the past?" Betty asked. "I just wanted you to see how she's doing in Monsteria."

"Ah! Monsteria. That's so much safer." Bernice said sarcastically.

"Spirits from the wind,

I summon you to sing.

Take our spirits to Monsteria." Betty chanted. Suddenly, there were three loud thumps. Their bodies lay slumped on the floor.

"If anything happens to Eric, you're gonna take full responsibility." Bernice said as they appeared in the Underworld semi-transparent.

"Where are we anyway?" Eric asked.

"We are here as observers." Betty said.

Suddenly, a vicious looking woman walked out of the cave.

"Ew!" Betty shouted.

"She looks like, Hoebe." Eric said, covering his mouth in disgust.

"This isn't Babette." Betty said.

Bernice, Eric and Betty reappeared in their bodies.

"I must absolutely check the Registrar of Reincarnation." Betty said.

"What? There's a Registrar?" Bernice asked.

Betty walked into the room and took out a laptop, entering in _Babette Cicero_.

The screen flashed, with the words _Reincarnated – 25 years ago_.

"Oh." Betty said. "That's just too sad."

"I guess I've learnt my lesson." Bernice said, shrugging.

(**Ending**)

Inside a dark cave

A boy, no more than fifteen, stood on a throne and observed the X symbol which was directly in front of him. One of the ends of the X symbol exploded.

"Cannis and Chattus – Failure resulting in death." He said coldly.


	4. A Time and Place for Everything

**Chapter 4: A Time and Place for Everything**

Eric yawned.

"So, class, you must know that all _Iterants_ are soluble." Their Alchemy teacher said. He saw Eric with his mouth wide open and asked. "Eric, is _Nadium Iterant_ a soluble compound?"

"Erm… yes." Eric answered, not sure of what he was saying.

"You have obviously not been paying attention at all." The Alchemy teacher said in a disappointed voice. "I just said five minutes ago that _Nadium _now does not exist. It has been found out to be an isotope of _Modusi._"

The bell rang.

"Alright, you may go."

"Goodbye Mr. Juicing." Everybody said as they made their way out.

"Just call me Noah, it'll do." Their Alchemy teacher said. "And don't forget to do the assignment."

Bernice and Eric walked out of the school and as they were doing so, everything suddenly froze, including themselves.

A shadow leapt down from the roof of the school.

"He he he!" The person with blue skin and a turban said. "After the dramatic failure of X-Cannis and X-Chattus, the time has come for me, X-Tempus to defeat Bernice Cicero and absorb her powers." He looked around and realised that no one was listening to him. He raised one hand and a stream of blue energy gathered in his hand, moving towards Bernice." Suddenly, the stream stopped.

"What happened?" Tempus asked himself, smoothening his moustache.

"Froze ya beam!" A girl around the age of sixteen standing in front of Bernice said fiercely. "Did you say you want to absorb Bernice's powers? She's my classmate!"

"Get out of my way!" Tempus shouted. He raised one hand and a blue ball of energy appeared. He threw it at the girl, who raised her hands and froze the ball of energy, and also slowed down Tempus. Everybody unfroze again. Immediately, Bernice saw the blue ball of energy floating in mid air. She stared at the ball of energy and it moved backwards, hitting Tempus. Tempus unfroze and decorporealized, shouting "I'll be back!"

"What happened?" Bernice asked Eric. "Why did a blue ball of energy suddenly appear in mid-air?"

"I don't know." Eric said.

"Bernice." The girl said.

"Oh, hi, Cathy." Bernice smiled.

"I know what happened." Cathy said. "A man with pale blue skin and a moustache appeared. He called himself X-Tempus and he wanted to absorb your power, but I stopped the absorption."

"X-Tempus?" Eric said incredulously. "Could it be from the same clan as X-Cannis and X-Chattus?"

"What are you talking about?" Cathy asked.

"A month ago, I was attacked by two people who looked like a cat and a dog in metallic armour. They called themselves X-Cannis and X-Chattus. One of them was the chairman of the Alchemy Club." Bernice explained. "So do you want to come over to my house to do the Alchemy Group Assignment that Noah assigned us?"

(Attic)

Bernice poured the chemical inside the test tube. "A potion to defeat any general monster. Lets' see… We require Modusi Iterant as well as Minerva's Alloy."

"Do you need any help?" Bernice's mother walked into the attic. "Cathy's getting a few cookies down at the kitchen."

"I think we need..." Eric said. Suddenly his face was frozen in an expression.

"Are you alright, Eric?" Betty asked. Eric did not respond and he was still frozen.

"Bernice, do you have any idea what's wrong with Eric?" Betty asked. Bernice did not respond. She, too was frozen.

"Cathy!" Betty shouted.

"Yes?" Cathy asked from the stairs.

"Bernice and Eric seem to be frozen! Any idea what's wrong with them?" Betty asked.

"X-Tempus?" Cathy said nervously. She ran up the stairs quickly.

Suddenly a blue ball of energy came crashing through the attic window. Glass splinters flew everywhere. Shocked, Betty raised her hands and the movement of the glass splinters slowed down. She waved her hand and a yellow glow radiated through Bernice's, Eric's and her body. The movement of the glass splinters sped up again, hitting everyone, but causing no harm. Bernice and Eric were still frozen. Cathy ran up to the attic just in time to see Tempus dive in through the window.

"Hi, everyone, I'm X-Tempus." He greeted cheerfully before raising his right hand and throwing out several blue balls of energy. Cathy waved her hands and the blue balls of energy froze in mid-air. Betty folded her arms and the blue balls of energy flew back at X-Tempus.

By then, Bernice and Eric were already unfrozen. Bernice saw the situation, held Eric's hand immediately and cried "Monster!" Tempus turned into several dark violet spirals of energy which Cathy froze. The blue energy balls flew towards the dark violet spirals and as they intersected the spiraling energies, Cathy unfroze the dark violet spirals, which combined to form Tempus.

"Oh, I feel quite unwell." Tempus said groggily. All of a sudden, the energy balls exploded from within and caused him to decorporealize again.

"What was that?" Bernice asked.

"X-Tempus, one of the Fantastic Four in the X-Men. The X-Men consists of 13 members. There are 4 groups of 2 of the weaker members, X-Cannis and X-Chattus was one of the groups, and 4 individual powerful members, called the Fantastic Four. The leader of the X-Men is called X-Calibur and he is the most powerful one." Betty explained.

"Oh well, if he comes again, I know what to do." Bernice smiled. "Lets' continue with our potion. Anyone got Minerva's alloy?"

(Cave)

A blue beam glowed within the cave and X-Tempus appeared.

"How's it going, Tempy?" A woman with butterfly wings asked.

"Thanks for your touching concern, Papillon." X-Tempus said sarcastically. "It's going very well. I'm going to trap them in a time and space in the future."

"Good luck then." X-Papillon disappeared into thin air.

X-Tempus raised his hand, chanting a spell.

"Powers of the X-Men I gather,

Bring Bernice and I into the future."

A whirlwind of spiraling light appeared and absorbed X-Tempus.

(Attic)

The same whirlwind of spiraling light surrounded Bernice.

"Bernice!" Eric, Cathy and Betty shouted and jumped towards Bernice at the same time. They were also sucked into the whirlwind of spiraling light and disappeared.

(focus on the empty attic)

The same whirlwind of spiraling light gathered in the attic and the four of them just suddenly appeared.

"Where are we?" Bernice asked. "Where's my Minerva's Alloy? I was just holding it a while ago."

"This sort of looks like the attic." Betty said.

"Erm… what just happened?" Cathy asked nervously. Eric walked out of the room and came back quickly, saying "Oh. My. God."

"What happened, Eric?" Bernice asked.

"Look at my watch." Eric said.

"Oh. My. God." Bernice said as well.

"What's the matter?" Betty asked.

"Oh. My. God." Bernice and Eric continued saying.

"Oh. My. God. Has some _Oh My God_ demon taken control over their minds?" Cathy wondered.

"Look at the year." Eric said, raising his watch.

"It's 2008!" Betty shouted. They heard the stomping of feet walking up the stairs.

"It must be the demon!" Bernice shouted. A seventeen-year-old boy surfaced. "So all of you are here!" He said menacingly.

"X-Tempus!" Cathy shouted and waved her hands. A block of ice appeared around the boy but he waved his hands, causing the ice to erupt in a burst of flame.

"What X-Tempus? He has long been vanquished." The boy said. "I was quite disappointed in him too."

Eric closed his eyes and tried to _fugamove_. Two white wings slowly formed around his right hand and he disappeared in a flash of blinding white light. Behind the boy, two wings appeared and Eric reappeared behind him. Eric punched the boy. "Who are you, and what do you want with us?"

"Eric, what did you just do?" Betty asked incredulously.

"I just punched X-Tempus." Eric said.

"And before that?" Bernice asked.

"I teleported behind him." Eric said.

"But you did not teleport. See, you grew wings and reappeared behind the boy." Cathy said.

"Really?" Eric asked.

"Hasn't that been how you teleported since, like, a year ago?" the boy asked. "And why are you punching me, anyway? You don't act like this normally."

"See, we might know you in the future, and that is now." Betty explained, "But we did not know you in 2006, which is where we came from."

"Betty, you don't normally joke. Well, it seems to be a marked improvement." The boy said.

"But, she's telling the truth!" Cathy shouted. "We came from 2006."

Suddenly, it all seemed to make sense to the boy. "2006… when I was still X-Calibur." He said to himself. "Oh no! X-Tempus is after you!" He shouted.

"What do you mean?" Bernice asked.

"I remember that 2 years ago, X-Tempus asked for the use of a Future Spell." The boy said. "He wanted to wipe all of you out, but somehow he was vanquished in the future and you returned back to the present."

"So what do we do?" Eric asked.

"I do not know, but I do know that the spell was only meant to work for one person, which means the others will return to the past within twenty-four hours, but that one person will remain in this realm until X-Tempus is defeated." The boy said.

"Can you tell us whether, you know, the stock price of CAL rises in the future?" Betty asked interestedly.

"No, I'm not supposed to tell you that." The boy said. "But I will have to tell Bernice about her powers in the future. It will help her greatly in this fight against X-Tempus. Bernice, shout out the name of any object."

Bernice spied a potion bottle lying on the floor and shouted "Potion Bottle!" A mini-tornado surrounded the potion bottle and it disappeared, reappearing in Bernice's hand.

"What happened?" She asked. "I thought this power would only surface with the combined effort of Eric and I."

"See, at first it was. Then Eric … OK, this significant event occurred and you somehow got this power. Don't ask me anything else, OK?" The boy begged. "Your second power," He continued. "is the power to move your soul through time and space. Now, imagine yourself beside this table."

Bernice did as he suggested. A yellow glow radiated through her body and her soul reappeared beside the table. "Wow!" Bernice said. Immediately, she was sucked back into her body.

"Looks like you still need to improve on this power." The boy said.

"Hi! Nice to meet you again!" X-Tempus shouted as he crashed through the window. Cathy raised one hand. X-Tempus froze, but he started to break through the freeze.

"Lets' see if my original power still works!" Bernice shouted. She concentrated on a wave moving through space. A tremendous tsunami of air unleashed itself on X-Tempus, causing him to fall to the floor.

"You will not defeat me so easily!" X-Tempus shouted. Then he saw the boy. "X-Calibur?" He said, shocked. The boy clicked his fingers and a burst of flame appeared in front of X-Tempus.

X-Tempus raised his hands. Everybody froze. A blue beam of energy was emitted from X-Tempus' heart and it moved towards Bernice. Bernice's body lay slumped onto the floor. Suddenly, X-Tempus felt a strong force holding him above the ground. At the same time, Cathy froze X-Tempus. A yellow pulse of energy radiated through Bernice's body and she stood up again. "Astral projection is fun, isn't it?" Betty shouted cheerfully before she recited a spell.

"Powers near and powers far…"

X-Tempus started to fight through the freeze.

"Concentrate on this lump of tar…"

X-Tempus fought through the freeze.

"Create a vortex strongest here."

X-Tempus raised his hands.

"Destroy this demon with no fear!"

A swirling black vortex appeared beneath X-Tempus. He looked at it, confused, before he was sucked into it and destroyed for eternity.

Immediately after, the same swirling whirlwind of light appeared, sucking Bernice and the others into the past.

"I forgot to ask. What's your name?" Bernice asked the boy.

"Alec!" The boy shouted as they disappeared.

(Present)

A whirlwind of spiraling light appeared again in the attic and the four of them appeared.

"Seems like I'm pretty strong in the future!" Bernice said cheerfully. "Now to get on with our Alchemy Assignment."

(Cave)

"What? X-Tempus has failed?" The fifteen-year-old said in a cold voice.

"Will it be us next, X-Calibur?" Papillon asked.

"Yes. You and Langostas will attack next." The fifteen-year old said.

(close in on the fifteen-year-old – it is Alec)


End file.
